Blind Man's Blade — Fred Saberhagen

Still warm from Vulcan's forge, the Smith distributes the Swords among the gods to begin the great Game of Swords. By gift and mischief the Swords come into the hands of human players. The Game begins.
The gods' great Game of Swords, and with it the whole later history of planet Earth, might have followed a very different course had the behavior of one or two divine beings -- or the conduct of only one man -- been different at the start.

Blind Man's Blade originally appeared in the 1995 anthology AN ARMORY OF SWORDS edited by Fred Saberhagen. The Song Of Swords, a poem by Fred Saberhagen, is included in this publication.